wow, I’ve only had a blog for a few days and I already have my first trollish person! yay!

“But I don’t really give a crap about BMI, because it is so flawed”

Yeah, you’re just heavy because you’re rock-solid muscle.

What people seem to have missed in all the discussion about the BMI is that it is only flawed/inaccurate for certain groups of people (elite athletes, pregnant women, the elderly, etc.) and correct me if I’m wrong but I don’t think you’re a bodybuilder or a pregnant woman. BMI is in fact an accurate predictor of body fatness for your average, relatively sedentary American female. Sorry.

If this person wasn’t so snarky about the whole thing, I really wouldn’t have found him “trollish” or whatever… “Yeah, you’re just heavy because you’re rock-solid muscle.”.. Yeah, thanks for that dude, because i am obviously blind and think i lift 5,000 pounds. You are soooo funny, hahahahahaa….

I really DON’T give a flying crap about BMI! (as i stated before). I never said it didn’t tell me how much fat I have (actually, i said that all it told me was that i am fat and short, which i clearly already know). So i don’t really see what you are arguing. I never denied i was fat, i just said that BMI is pretty much bull in determining the health of someone.

You know what? It is flawed. The fact that it doesn’t apply to certain groups means that it is. If it was perfect it would work for everyone and tell each and every person if they are fat or not. But it doesn’t.

THE CLAIM: The International Obesity Task Force estimates that 300 million people worldwide are obese and 750 million more are overweight, including 22 million children under age 5.

America is frequently cited as the fattest country in the world with an obesity rate of 30% and another 35% of us classified as “overweight.”

According to the formula the U.S. government employs to measure weight, any person with a BMI over 25 is classified as overweight. BMI stands for Body Mass Index. It is a number that shows body weight adjusted for height. BMI can be calculated with simple math.

The B.M.I. doesn’t tell you the percentage of body fat you’re carrying, or how your fat is distributed. According to this measurement, half of the National Basketball Association is overweight or obese.

Overweight = BMI 25 – 29.9
An estimated 35 percent of U.S. adults, over 66 million people, are overweight, defined as having a body mass index (BMI) of between 25 – 29.9.

Obesity = BMI greater than 30
An estimated 30 percent of U.S. adults, over 60 million people, are obese, defined as having a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or higher.

THE TRUTH: Today’s average American adult is 7 to 14 pounds heavier than one thirty years ago.

Some doctors and pseudo-scientific health organizations, like the International Obesity Task Force, have worked tirelessly (with substantial financial backing from diet and pharmaceutical companies) to lower the bar in determining those of us who are overweight and obese.

Until a report by the National Institute of Health (largely paid for by weight loss industry money paid to the International Obesity Task Force and the American Obesity Association) “overweight” was defined as having a BMI greater than 27 and “obese” meant your BMI was greater than 32.

After the 1998 NIH report, suddenly tens of millions of Americans became “obese” even though they had not gained a pound. Shifting the BMI down two points helped turned obesity into moral panic.

Despite weak evidence of an obesity crisis, the media continues to shill for the weight loss industry. Last month (January 2006) Google Alerts produced over 300 headline stories on obesity.

You know what? You are right, I am not a bodybuilder or pregnant. BMI may be an “accurate predictor of body fatness” for everyone (except for ”elite athletes, pregnant women, the elderly, etc.” of course). But what does it tell you other than that? It tells you how i am short and fat-which as i have said many many times before- i already know. How do you know how much muscle i have mixed in there too? Bodies are made up of all kinds of different stuff, not just fat. I’m sorry if i get pissed at people (anyone for that matter) who go to people’s blogs and be jerks. If they could just be respective and not sarcastic assholes all the time. It gets old fast.

….. I am tired after dancing for 3 and 1/2 hours last night at the dance, and i have to go to work in 1/2 an hour… I’ll post more soon (hopefully)..